Scientific Fighting
by Nystea
Summary: Vegeta goes into space to retrieve an artifact for Bulma. Sadly, he isn't alone on this trip down memory lane. And how are the DBZ wives handling things back on earth? Well, with a lot of alcohol and gossip of course. Features the main DBZ couples. Rating may go up due to language.
1. Chapter 1

Dear Reader,

you ventured right into my first English story and also my first take on DBZ. I hope you enjoy it and review in the end. I am also searching for a beta-reader. So if anyone thinks I am not completely hopeless, help me. If you notice mistakes, things you don't like or really anything off, please tell me. I am a big girl, and can handle criticism.

Nystea

**Chapter 1: Gossip**

Space. It was cold, calm and isolated. Qualities, Vegeta cherished and appreciated his whole life. Before the Sayajin stayed on earth, it calmed his mind and ensured his healing. As long as he got to travel in one of the spacepods, his body had enough time to heal before Frieza got his hands on him again. After the somewhat ironic "settlement" on the blue planet, he used trips into space to think in peace and train without distraction. As years passed by, Vegeta found himself less and less in need of such trips, but it didn't mean he appreciated space any less. He recalled days spend in silent meditation without any type of disru-

"Did someone find out where Bulma stored the food, yet? Takeoff made me hungry!" And so much for pretending this was just one of his single trips into space. With the familiar scowl on his face deepening, Vegeta turned away from his observation position by the main window and faced the nightmarish situation onboard. Kakkarot was already raiding every cupboard and box in plain view for food. His oldest brat tried to save his newly "unpacked" books (seriously, why did he HAVE to pack those?) from destruction and the former Boldy, whom had no place on this mission anyway, still looked like he expected the spaceship to either explode or implode any minute. On which point had the short travel into space to retrieve a stupid piece of rock for his mate turned into a twisted school trip she usually made his son participate in?

Slowly, very slowly he counted to ten (a method so ridiculously simple yet effective, Vegeta had to give it to those humans) and paraphrased the last hours in his head. The woman wanted a stupid piece of rock, she found out about in the records of Freezers ship all those years ago. The fact, that she was still decoding and studying this thing, was idiotic. Nevertheless, it was found in a galaxy Vegeta recalled being quite unstable and rough even under Kind Cold's rule. And with the emperor out of the picture, everybody was bound to be even more trigger happy.

So she asked him to go. He gave in. Silently looking forward to a little reminder of his space travelling days (minus the wild purging and sadistic punishments by Frieza), he still argued quite a bit, ridiculed and got some very nice "gifts" to look forward to when he came back. Just because the prince would have gone without any other "reason" to do so, didn't mean he had to let her know that, after all. But from that point on, things had spun out of Vegeta's control. His mate didn't trust him to find what she was looking for, or store it properly. In retrospection, maybe referring to it only as "stupid piece of rock" in their conversations had not been the right move. Apparently she didn't trust him to "handle such an important item with the appropriate care".

Now, Vegeta was nothing if not a men who could think on his feet. If he was not trusted in that department, his mate might be allowed to tag along. The prince even thought of planting the idea in her head this could be treated as their second honeymoon. The woman would be grateful, maybe even ecstatic and off his case for a while. Not to mention the sex they could have without anybody interrupting.

Sadly, things didn't go that way. For some reason the woman was not able to leave Capsule Corp. alone. (some bullshit about maybe winning the Nobel Price with a new invention) So she talked to Kakkarot's harpy and got that nerd brat to join him. Ok, he kind of walked into that one, too, stating how every scientist of Capsule Corp. would have to endure his gravity training on board. And with the brat on a "training mission", Kakkarot was fast to invite himself along. Something about new powerful fighters and an adventure with his son. Vegeta wanted to tell the fool any attempt on "father-son bonding" was probably a little late, but bit his tongue without any real reason. Or maybe he was reminded of those dreaded moments the prince had taken up training the nerd brat after Kakkarot stayed dead. And how Gohan had more than once screamed for his father to come back and teach him instead. Foolish boy.

That explained why those two fools were here, but not the comparable weak former monk now husband of a Cyborg. Apparently neither Kakkarot (ok, he saw that) nor Gohan (that kid was a push-over) or himself could be trusted to end this mission as soon as possible to return home. Again, telling the woman he might stay in space longer to escape her screeching voice was not the smartest move, in retrospect. As if he would stay in space, when upon returning his mate promised great welcome back and thank you sex. He mated with her for a reason, after all.

Enter Krillin, weak as he may be, the human could master up quite a mind and persuasion when faced with the possible wrath of his Cyborg mate. Sometimes Vegeta hated HIS mate for being such a smartass. Now, one might think that the Sayajin was not above blasting the even smaller fighter into oblivion for even looking at him the wrong way. But, for reasons he was not ready to examine too closely, Krillin was a human he could somewhat stand. Maybe it was due to the monk marrying another ex-villain, someone not everybody viewed as renewed and purified after the whole Cell debacle, much like himself.

In conclusion Vegeta found himself stuck with three more or less annoying fools who already started to make this trip a living hell. And the worst part, he could just see his mate enjoying herself back home. Not missing him one bit. Which really shouldn't bother him as much as it did.

* * *

Bulma was indeed enjoying herself. Though Vegeta might have been relieved to know even with him gone, the blue haired genius was indeed thinking about her Sayajin. And talking about him, too. Misery loves company, so the wifes, namely Chi Chi,Videl, C18 and herself, were sitting around a table in the backyard of Capsule Corporation, drinking Bunny's "Afternoon Pina Coladas". Naturally, it loosened their tongues quickly.

Chi Chi was pretty far gone by this point, mindlessly apologizing to Videl for allowing Gohan to go into space, not fulfilling his ´"husbandly duties". Afterwards she started a rant about Goku's mindlessness in that department. It was safe to say, Videl felt uncomfortable with either topic and unsuccessfully tried to hide her tomato red face in her hands. Not that Chi Chi minded, of course.

Bulma, not to be outdone in the beautiful art of women listing their husbands shortcomings, interrupted Chi Chi's ranting.

"Well, I can't really complain at all about Vegeta fulfilling any duties that involve bedroom matters, but he wouldn't be caught dead doing anything else." Ignoring the chuckles of her drinking companions, she continued with an aura of (non so silent) suffering.

"At least Goku and Gohan help around the house! His Highness wouldn't even drop his used coffee mug in the sink for crying out loud. All this super human speed be damned! No offense C18." The blue haired woman gave the Cyborg a apologetic look over the rim of her cocktail glass. Said blonde just shrugged.

"None taken, according to the presented data, I am indeed a lucky woman. My husband can cook, clean and satisfy. Very peculiar indeed." Chi Chi and Bulma gave her a well practiced sigh in response, while Videl felt the need to defend her own husbands qualities. How was it, that every encounter she had with these women left her either confused, very embarrassed or slightly horrified?

"Well, Gohan helps with the household. But I have to kill all the spiders. He would just built them their own habitat in our bathroom." Her voice grew quite hostile with her last statement. All crawly things should be crawling elsewhere, far, far away from her home. Videl shook her head as if to get rid of too many legs moving in too many directions, and decided this conversation had been weird already. Time for a question she had had for ages.

"But C18, doesn't it bother you, that… well… Krillin has no nose?" she asked with clear hesitation. When the whole Cell debacle happened, Videl didn't have time to look around and spare the other strange people around Kami's lookout with much more than a second glare. But ever since the female Cyborg took up with non other then Krillin, she was wondering. Noses were important, right? That's why everybody had them, or so she thought.

C18 raised an eyebrow and looked positively puzzled for a moment. Bulma, who had known Krillin the longest, realized with a small chuckle how he was obviously rubbing off on his wife. Nevertheless, the blond answered.

"I found this anomaly hardly matters." She stated and downed the rest of her drink at once. Her tone was dismissive. A subtle hint to leave the topic alone, silently complied to by the other women. Well, most of them.

"I could think of a few things, where having a nose is pretty important." Chi Chi giggled and winked with all the suggestiveness her drunken face muscles could still come up with. Videl groaned and took a huge gulp of whatever that glass in front of her contained. Bulma choose to not react with more than a knowing smile. She knew Chi Chi had many stages of drunkenness, but it would soon be time to call it a day.

Bulma was pretty sure, C18 wouldn't catch the innuendo, too.

At least until the Cyborg finally put her glass back on the table with a loud klink, looked Chi Chi dead in the eye and said: "He can hold his breath for an extraordinary long period of time."


	2. Chapter 2

Vegeta was not happy. Why, you might ask? He could give you a long, long list of things and people, but most prominently the spaceship just stopped moving. Why did it do that? Because Vegeta was finally being punished for his sins by fate. The sayajin was sure of it. Normally he would not go down without a fight. But Vegeta was no stupid man. If he decided to fight this out, it would be Kakkarot and his nerd brat against himself. And as much as he liked to give the former a run for his money, both of them would end up defeating him sooner or later. So he was stuck with a not moving space-ship and three all too much moving idiots. Or more precisely, an idiot, a push-over, and one god damn blabber mouth.

"Boldy, give me one good reason, why I shouldn't kill you!", the sayajin prince demanded and shot said fighter a murderous glare. The former monk just coughed nervously and backed away.

"I didn't know Goku forgot. Normally, Bulma drops him a hint two weeks before, and the Ox-King comes by the day before to make sure he doesn't forget. But with Boo and all the drama, I guess even Chi Chi forgot their anniversary." Krillin seemed terrified by what he had done. Pissing off Vegeta was never a good idea, but pissing him off with nowhere to run and hide, was bordering suicide. However if he had to go, Krillin wouldn't take the blame all by himself.

"And I thought it was no big deal. If he didn't remember and Chi Chi didn't either, what's the problem? Gohan insisted on stopping the ship to call home." he was quick to point out. Sadly, all he got for his trouble was a threatening growl from Vegeta.

"You human idiot, of course he did! One of the harpies is bound to remember at some point. And they WILL tell Kakkarot's mate. That seems to be what woman on this backwater planet do!" As Krillin desperately wanted to point out, _Vegeta_ lecturing him about woman was pretty ironic, but he decided against another brush of death.

Vegeta was, as stated before, not beyond reason. If this had to be their first pit stop with a connection home, the sayajin would use it to his advantage. He needed to make sure Trunks continued training. And maybe the prince would be able to see his mate, just to make sure she didn't do something foolish, or course. Like inviting that good for nothing desert ferret over. Or installing another killer switch in his beloved Gravity Room.

"Nerd brat, get to it! I rather die in battle than waiting for Kakkarot to crawl back to his mate." he growled, looking over to father and son.

Said pair had problems of their own. Or at least Gohan did. He needed to get a stronger signal for the connection with earth. Which was, by now, quite a few light-years away. Normally, they would land on an technologically advanced planet, get access to the galaxy wide communication network and connect with Brief's computer system. But with no such planet in reach and time of an essence, he needed to improvise. So far, his provisory magnifier consisted of a steel shower wall, a mixer, two communication relays from the main console, some wires he hoped didn't connect anything important, and a coffee maker. The last one was named Berta and would be dearly missed by everyone.

While he readied Berta for her higher calling, Gohan couldn't help but steal short glances at his father. Said full blood sayajin was standing next to him and looked quite scared.

"What am I gonna do Gohan? Chi Chi is gonna be really, really mad. What should I say?" the strongest being in the entire universe whined.

His son found himself growing more and more angry. Normally, he would shrug off his father's carelessness. Normally, he would try to make sure Goku didn't unintentionally hurt Chi Chi. And now, he was stuck with his father, while his mother probably felt more hurt than angry back home. Gohan may have been a total mamma's boy, but at least his mother never had to question the half-sayajin's love and devotion. Sadly, the same couldn't be said about Goku.

"I don't know. I would tell my wife that I loved her. You know, as marriage is supposed to be based on it." Even to his own ears, Gohan's voice sounded snappy. Goku frowned for a moment, part of his naive look melting away. He might have been a bit dense at times, but never when it came to his family.

"What do you mean, _son_?" There was a subtle hint in Goku's voice. Something more primal, instinctual, than an ever smiling sunny boy. Even the word 'son' sounded more like a warning. Across the room, Vegeta looked up and over. Gohan, on the other hand, seemed to miss his father's changed posture. He probably was too worked up already.

"Krillin told me, you thought marriage was something to eat!" The sentence, spit out with accusation, hung under the round roof of their space ship. Krillin shuddered. Dying so many times, he had acquired quite a sixth sense for when things were about to turn dire. And that death sense was all but slamming a ringing alarm clock over his head.

Vegeta couldn't help but notice Kakkarot's hand twitch for a split second. But the human raised sayajin opted for giving a very un-Goku-like glare. Which softened only slightly as he saw how worked up Gohan was. Said boy was on his feet by now, too.

"I came back, after Boo." Goku stated, his posture not quite relaxed again. But there was a slight hesitation in his words. This conversation was one he rather not have in a drifting space ship. To be honest, Goku preferred to not have it at all.

"Yes, after _seven_ years! Men came and tried to woo her, you know?" Krillin gasped as he heard this answer. The monk knew Gohan hadn't taken his father's death too well. But after all this time? Well, he guessed, if nobody had ever talked about it, how was the young boy supposed to deal with it?

While Krillin was occupied with pitying Gohan, Vegeta didn't let Kakkarot out of his sight. Said sayajin had a very prominent frown on his face, eyes focused like he was about to fight a super villain. And Kakarott was calm. Dangerously calm.

"And you didn't chase them off?" The sentence was practically growled towards Gohan. But the son didn't back down. While he was slightly surprised by how serious Goku seemed to be, Gohan still felt his father at fault.

"Why should I have? You-" The sentence was interrupted by blasts of energy, nearly ripping apart the shell of their space ship. Krillin found himself being thrown across the room by this force. As he got back up, the scene in front of him had changed dramatically.

Goku and Gohan had gone at least Super Sayajin 2, a very primal aggression in their eyes as they glared at arm's length. Between them, with one hand braced against each opponent's chest, stood an also powered up Vegeta. He glared, too, but that was nothing new.

"You two Idiots! Get a grip!" The prince ordered, but both males on his sides seemed to pay him little attention. At least they didn't do anything more than glare at the moment.

"Now you both fucking listen to me! This happens when you disgrace your sayajin heritage. Mating is serious, as is family. The fact that you are about to rip each other's spleens out should prove . !" Vegeta's voice boomed unforgiving through the air, leaving no room for backtalk. Krillin never really considered it before, but now he couldn't help but notice the royal, monarchial poise said sayajin possessed. The aggressive family members slowly powered down. As their hair turned back to back, they blinked and looked rather embarrassed. Just like that, the spell was broken. Gohan went back to his experimental tinkering, and Goku went looking for food. But he didn't leave without giving his son a reassuring, somewhat apologetic pat on the back.

A little while later, Gohan gave a triumphal shout and powered his new invention up. He was clever, oh so very, very clever. The signal might not be high speed, but at least they got connection. As the other members of their odd crew gathered around, he established a link with the main computer in Bulma's lab. Their plan was to wait for Bulma to show up. And then ask Bulma what to do. Or at least three of them had agreed on this strategy and Vegeta had growled.

As Gohan switched on Microphone and Camera covering the working space, Bulma could be seen at her desk. Sadly, she wasn't alone.

* * *

Bulma sighed half heartedly and tried to concentrate on her newest project. But as much as she loved to get lost in the possibility of fleshed out holographic chambers, right now nothing seemed to make sense. One reason for her brain being as focused as a box of kittens was her company.

Bulma had some strict rules about her work space. When she was on a tight schedule, nobody was allowed to distract her, talk to her, or even breath in a approximately 2 meter radius. Even Vegeta learned after just two weeks on earth, entering her laboratories during such a time could damn nearly burst his eardrums. Therefore, to say she needed a quite working environment was a bit of an understatement.

Now imagine our dear Bulma, crunched on time, brooding over circuit layouts, while Chi Chi bawled her eyes out next to her, Videl was apologizing like a crazy woman and C18 had already opened the second bottle of red wine. Against all odds, Cyborgs DID get drunk.

"Girls, I grew up quite well on the clever side of live. But this is ridicules. I can't work like this! What the hell are you all doing here?" the Capsule Corp. heiress demanded with the thinning patience of somebody who knew her work day to be ruined. Not that she didn't care for her best friend, but did Chi Chi have to have her spontaneous meltdown _today_?

Enter a nearly hysterical Videl.

"It's all my fault. I am so sorry, I am so, so sorry. Please, I just thought... I thought, they had planned something afterwards. I didn't... Oh God, I am sorry!" Videl babbled and shook her head, waving her hands around and nearly knocking stuff off of Bulma's desk.

The blue haired genius jumped up and caught the girl's hands, before they could cause any harm to her carefully arranged chaos. She gave the babbling woman a stern look and a nod for her to continue.

"I am sorry, it's all my fault, I am..." The triad started again, but Bulma would have none of that.

"Girl, focus! What happened?" she interrogated and tried to shake some sense into Gohan's wife.

"I am..." No such luck.

"...sorry?" C18 'helpfully' pitched in a few chairs over, raising a big wine glass to her lips before giggling. She _giggled_. If Chi Chi hadn't been crying, Videl apologizing and Bulma desperate for an answer, they would have been shocked. And amused, but mostly shocked.

Bulma had a "no nonsense at work" policy. And if even a dark, broody handsome Sayajin mass murderer hadn't shaken this foundation, these three wives wouldn't either. She gave herself exactly 20 seconds of walking around her lab, calming down and ignoring the hot mess in front of her. After these precise 20 seconds, she gave Chi Chi a box of tissues, Videl a glass of C18's red wine, and C18 a glass of water. With the three girls in the best possible state for the moment, she sat down again and glared.

"And now, talk!" Bulma hissed and mentally started counting to ten.

Videl drowned the full glass of wine, closed her eyes, and did just that.

"I remembered that the Son's anniversary is today, and ... I thought they had planned something for when Goku comes back. So... I called Chi Chi to ask about the new date. When she broke down sobbing, I guessed there was no new date. And... and I panicked. Called C18, and came here. Good Dende, give me another glass already." Contrary to her words, Gohan's wife didn't take another glass. She got up, pulled the bottle out of C18 hands, and took a large pull from that. Back to the basics, as they say.

Cue Chi Chi, who had been weeping surprisingly silently until now. Mrs. Son started wailing in a high pitched voice, most of her words unrecognizable between screeches, hiccups and coughing.

Bulma felt for her friend. She really did. And it wasn't about the anniversary either. Chi Chi probably didn't cry about the flowers, chocolate or the extra big fish Goku usually brought home that day. If your husband could die every moment, a new threat around the corner, you clung on to every piece of normality there was. Like an anniversary, or a family dinner... or a slow night on top of the Capsule Corp. building.

The blue haired woman sighed, sat down next to her devastated friend and patted her back.

"There, there. Now come on Chi Chi. This isn't the end of the world. As soon as Goku comes back, you can guilt trip him into basically everything you want to. We both know he didn't forget on purpose. So you can ask for ANYTHING. Like a second honeymoon, a few weeks away from everything, with just you two. Now how does that sound?" she reasoned and saw with relieve, Chi Chi calmed down. Now Bulma would just have to cheer her up a bit.

"And besides. You got lucky with Goku. Vegeta wouldn't celebrate an anniversary with me if I nagged him for two weeks straight. Would probably lock himself in the GR, just to spite me. How is that for a husband?" The genius declared theatrically. It brought her a chuckle from two of the other women present. The last one took another pull from her bottle and had a declaration of her own.

"And my husband is a *hick* pushover. He... he can't say ... noooooo." Videl slurred and found a chair to sit on. Funny, Bulma never mentioned working on a spinning room.

"Research says that I am indeed a very lucky woman." the Cyborg chirped in after sobering up slightly. Bulma was about to give her a pointy glare. They were supposed to cheer Chi Chi up, not bring her down with talk of more attentive husbands. However, the unlucky wife seemed to have found some humor in the whole situation.

"Well, I don't know about Sayajin average, but I consider myself very lucky, too… IF I get lucky, that is." This sentence was topped off with an suggestive wink. Who would have thought Chi Chi had it in her? Now, that was a topic to Bulma's liking.

"Well said! I don't think anybody on this table can complain about size, right Videl?"If there was a topic, Bulma could simply not complain about in her married life, it was sex. Well, except for when Vegeta wasn't there. But she tried not to think about that too much. There were much more entertaining things right now, anyway. Like Videl's face, beet red hiding behind the big, nearly empty wine bottle.

"It seems conversing over her husband's performance with his mother makes the girl uncomfortable. Interesting." C18 'helpfully' added. The other girls couldn't quite decide whether she was serious, amused, or simply still drunk. Nevertheless, Bulma felt the need to make one thing clear to the newest addition of their little club.

"Oh, suck it up, girl. You married a fighter, so there are bound to be frustrations. You need to stick with us fellow wives, otherwise you will go crazy, I tell you." Situations like this were the best proof. Bulma followed her point with getting another glass of water for Videl. The poor girl just couldn't hold her liquor.

"Talking about frustrations. What did YOU do, when Vegeta took off into space for the first time? You know, when you were…" Chi Chi asked after a few moments of silence. Now, there was a question Bulma didn't get every day. She still didn't like to remember the pain she had felt, uncertain, if her sayajin prince would ever be coming back. With a shake of her head, she dismissed the thought and tried for something more lighthearted, but also true.

"Well, first of all, I brought a bigger vibrator." The answer was met with loud laughing, followed by slightly quieter giggling.

"I mean, what was there to do? I didn't know when or if he would be back. So I just kept calm and carried on. " The genius finished her answer on a more serious note. There wasn't very much else to it. The child had been on the way, androids around the corner, she had her plate full and enough distraction to not think too much about Mr. Dark and Handsome out in space.

There was a pregnant pause, during which the other wives recalled their own moments of silent struggle. More or less, they were all powerless in comparison to the warriors who saved the day. But the sullen, darker mood wasn't welcome to most of them. They didn't like dwelling on the negative sides of their life. It didn't make things better and only served to spoil good moments. People might have thought them ignorant, but they knew better than most how short life could be. Time was too precious for worrying. Therefore it wasn't very surprising which way their conversation turned from here on out.

"I am more impressed that you survived you first night with him. God knows Goku didn't expect things to get as 'intense'. He broke 3 of my ribs, and I was black and blue the next day." Chi Chi chuckled with her description. The mother's pose nevertheless betrayed her satisfaction thinking back to the event.

"Vegeta knew how to control himself. Luckily." her blue haired friend answered with a small laugh of herself. Her husband might not be a gentle character, but he always took care not to hurt her. And in a way, that was his way to express how much she meant to the sayajin prince.

"By the way, I have to confess something.", Bulma added after giving everyone a more than cheeky smile. Now that got her friends attention. Confessions were always the sweetest gossip.

"I know we always tell our husbands we hate their fighting. Especially all this 'going one on one with the main super villain' stuff." She started and everybody gave her a silent nod in agreement.

"... and don't get me wrong, I am always worrying with Vegeta fighting. Him never asking for help and everything. But..." Bulma trailed off, well aware that the other women were hanging on her lips. She closed her eyes for a second, thought back to the last time she saw her husband in full-out battle stance and smiled.

"... but God help me, when he is all geared up for battle, I need to tell my lady parts 'Not now, Mommy is working!' _Repeatedly_." Her voice had dropped to a purr with more meaning than her words could convey. And the other women around, all well versed in seeing their men in powerful poses, couldn't help but agree.

* * *

_So this is the second chapter. Please give me some feedback, criticism more than welcome. As mentioned before, I am not a native English speaker. Please correct mistakes if you find them. :)_


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